Nephew #1 gets hitched

We were all in awe of Chris when he arrived in our family. The first child for my sister, first grandchild for my parents, and first nephew for me. We spent many hours those first few months just staring at him sleeping. He was perfect. When he grew up a little he loved dinosaurs for a while, then legos, then the guitar. His hair was a dark blonde until he hit junior high school, then he dyed it blue and then bleach blonde, and then he shaved it all off and then grew it long. Every time I saw him it was a surprise. He was in a band for a while, lead worship music for his youth group, and his senior year of high school ran the 400 meters in track and won 4th place in state.

He was one of those maddening people who fall in love the first week of college (How to people DO that?!). He and Laura dated for four years (mostly) and got married this weekend, a few months after they graduated from college. (How do people DO that?!).

When he was about 2 or 3 my sister and her small family moved to Ohio. I visited shortly after they moved and slept on the couch. One morning I woke up sobbing because I realized I wouldn't get to see my sister, or my nephew, as much and I was generally depressed at that point in my life anyway. Chris woke up and crawled out of his crib. He ran into the living room in his soggy diapers. When he looked at me and saw me crying, he came over and put his head on the pillow next to mine so we were nose to nose. Then reached up and patted my cheek. I can still feel his soft baby skin and his hand on my cheek.

I haven't gotten to see him as much as I would have liked. But I tried to make it to Ohio often for football games, track meets, and high school graduation. Now he's married and starting life with his adorable bride.

They're impossibly good looking, full of life and possibilities. I want their lives to be easy and good and perfect. But inevitably they will encounter disappointment and struggles and conflict. And I will pray that during those times they'll feel God's presence more intensely, maybe even in the form of a sweet baby patting away their tears.